Manchester United will go for Porto midfielder Raul Meireles if they fail to land Mesut Ozil.

Sunday Mirror Sport ­revealed last week that United were refusing to meet Werder Bremen’s £12million valuation on Germany playmaker Ozil, despite Sir Alex Ferguson making a trip to Fulham to check on the player in a pre-season friendly.

With only one year left on Ozil’s contract, United are willing to pay only £8m – and that has given Chelsea and Real Madrid the edge in the race to sign him.

That has forced Ferguson to cast his net elsewhere - and 27-year-old Meireles is now on United’s radar.

United were quoted £15m when they enquired about the Portuguese international last week. That is more than Ferguson wants to pay, but with United now outsiders to land Ozil they may have to dig deep.